When a young boy named Tooichi stumbles upon an old lamp in his grandfather's shed, he mistakes it for a toy and takes it outside to play. When his grandfather discovers this, he reprimands the boy and begins recounting the story behind the artifact—of how a small, traditional Japanese town became Westernized. In his youth, Tooichi's grandfather, Minosuke, made a living by doing errands and chores for the townspeople. After one errand takes him to a nearby town, he witnesses Western lamps—a technology unfamiliar to him—light up the streets, igniting a spark in the young boy. From that moment on, lamps became Minosuke's passion and profession, changing his and the townspeople's lives forever. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

The Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan invested 214 million yen ($2.26 million) in "Young Animator Training Project" and entrusted the execution of the project to Japan Animation Creators Association (JaniCA). JaniCA produced four original anime (23 min long with OP and ED sequences) in cooperation with four production studios. Ojiisan no Lamp was one of these four projects. Ojiisan no Lamp also won the 2011 Future Animator Contest.